Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Beelab on April 30, 2021, 11:11:11 pm
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My son is moving (30 minutes drive away) and we wonder how best to move his 2 hives.
They each have a deep super on, full of mostly uncapped honey. Broodbox is 8 frame deep. Screened bottom boards. Full of bees.
Can we just take the supers off and transport them separately, bees and all? With some ventilation somehow?
I always ever transported single broodboxes, never with supers.
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My son is moving (30 minutes drive away) and we wonder how best to move his 2 hives.
They each have a deep super on, full of mostly uncapped honey. Broodbox is 8 frame deep. Screened bottom boards. Full of bees.
Can we just take the supers off and transport them separately, bees and all? With some ventilation somehow?
I always ever transported single broodboxes, never with supers.
There are probably many here to answer that question. Oldbeavo would be a good one for that advise also!
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No other bee forum is so full of experienced advice. Thanks Ben.
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No other bee forum is so full of experienced advice. Thanks Ben.
Your welcome my friend. :grin:
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If you have someone to help lift, just put a strap around them to keep them together and a screen across the entrance, then load them up and move them to there new home. The move is best done after dark or before sunrise. That's when it is the coolest and most of the foragers are at home.
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If there isn't a honey flow on then just move them as they are.
We just shifted double deeps 300k, picked them up last nite on dusk and left home 4:30 this morning. No problems.
30 min would be a breeze, early morning before they move, about 6:30 , block the entrance if you don't have doors and off you go
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Thanks all. Awesome ideas. Much appreciated.
Situation is, no car access to the hives.
With supers on top, those hives would weigh 50kg very + that someone would have to carry through mud.
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Aww, I think we have some out of season flow on for sure.
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It seems so easy, if we didn?t have to carry 40kg of bulky boxes through the mud.
My idea was to separate the supers from the brood boxes, move them separately (30 minutes, maybe 60) and put them back together in their new place at dusk. Wearing a suit. Guess the bees could be testy.
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If there isn't a honey flow on then just move them as they are.
We just shifted double deeps 300k, picked them up last nite on dusk and left home 4:30 this morning. No problems.
30 min would be a breeze, early morning before they move, about 6:30 , block the entrance if you don't have doors and off you go
I hear you. Will do. But we have a big big flow on. I?m nor entirely sure what it is either. Those flowers must be mighty high up in the trees.
Thanks OldBeavo.
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Yes Beelab you have the right idea. Simply break down each hive into manageable piece sizes and move them that way. Reassemble at the vehicle or at the new location. The bees will be fine. Just know which box of bees goes with which box of bees. For example. Take the hive apart, carry the parts to the truck, put the hive together on the truck, drive, take the hive apart off of the truck, carry pieces to the new site, put the hive together, go home.
A couple of helpful notes. Get everything ready ahead of time so you can efficiently Move at dusk, finishing in the dark. The bees wake up in the new spot in the morning and carryon like nothing happened. Evening move gives you more time and flexibility to deal with the unexpected without rushing against sunrise and bees getting active. Have a good smoker and lots of fuel. Use smoke to calm them and light puffs to push them back into the boxes.
For working in the dark use RED lights. Beit lantern, flashlight, whatever. Just bee red. Bees cannot see red. You will comfortably see what you are doing but to them it is still a pitch black night.
If the terrain is challenging, moving by hand and foot, and there are only two hives it might be worth considering to cage the queen in the hive to protect her from being squished from shifting that can occur when someone stumbles in the mud. Rarely necessary but gives that 100 percent confidence if one needs that.
A basic garden cart or wheel barrow works well for moving the break-down hives quickly to-from vehicle access.
Do not over complicate it. Keep it simple. Just plan it out ahead so it goes efficiently and smoothly. Bingo bango bongo - doneso.
Hope that helps!
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HP, bingo bingo bongo. So it will be done!
Thanks a lot.
Cheers to Canada. I was at apimondia 2019.